Track-clearer.



No. 888,730. PATENTED MAY 26, '1'908.

G. A. PARMENTBR. TRACK GLEARER'.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.28, 1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

N0.'888,730. v PATENTED MAY ZG, 1908.

A. PARMENTER.

TRACK GLBARER. APPLICATION IILED SEPT. 28, 1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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GEORGE A. PARLKIENTER, OF GAMBRIDGEPORT, MASSACHUSETTS.

TRAoK-(JLEARER.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. PAR- MuN'rEn, citizen of the United States, residing at Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Track-Clearers, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to track clearcrs or plows for street railway cars.

Among the objects of the invention are to provide a simple, durable, economical construction which may be applied to cars hav ing swinging or radial trucks, and in which the plows or scrapers may be brought into action by the motorman with equal facility and certainty, whether the car be upon a curve or a straight stretch of track.

ith these and other objects in View the invention includes the novel features of construction and arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described and particularly defined by the appended claims.

An embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a sufficient portion of a car to illustrate the application of the clearer thereto. Fig. 2 is a plan view showing the floor frame of the car only with the parts beneath, and Fig. 3 is a rear view showing the parts carried by the truck.

Referring by reference characters to this drawing A designates the body of the car and B the truck. The front cross board or bar of the truck is shown at C.

D D represent the scraper or clearer blades, of which there are two, one for each rail of a shape suitable to accomplish the desired scraping or clearing action. These blades are carried each by a lever E pivoted at a suitable point, as at 0, upon the front cross board C or to a reinforcing metal bar thereon as shown. These levers are constructed of spring material which, while of sufficient strength or rigidity, to hold the scrapers to their work under normal conditions, will yet yield in case of contact of the blades with obstructions. Extending upward from and secured to the front side of the cross board 0 at opposite ends are two uprights or standards F, each of which has its upper end shaped to receive and hold a round bushing f with a square hole. In the square holes of these bushings is mounted a rock shaft G which has upwardly extending arms G at or near its opposite ends. A curved or radial.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 28, 1907.

Patented May 26, 1908.

Serial No. 395,021.

these arms, this bar being curved on the arc of a circle which has as its center the pivotal point of the truck. A pull rod I has atits rear end a loop or eye 1'. embracing the radial bar H while it is held against displacement with relation to the car body by guiding means such for example, as chains J. At its front end the rod I is connected to one arm of a bell crank lever K, the other arm of which is designed to be operated by a pull rod or other manual device L within convenient reach of the hand of the motorman. Thus an upward pull upon the hand rod L will rock the bell crank K and transmit a corresponding pull to the rod I, and radial bar H, thereby rocking the shaft G. This latter carries one or more arms M connected by rods N with the inner ends of the arms E, whereby the rotation of shaft G pulls up the inner ends of the arms E and throws the outer ends down and the scraper blades into contact with the rails. A spring 0 interposed between arm M and the cross board 0 tends to hold the rock shaft in position to keep the blades normally elevated.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that while the clearer blades are carried by the truck frame and consequently maintained at all times in the same relation with the tracks, which is necessary for their proper and efficient operation, yet by the curved bar and the sliding loop thereon interposed between the blades and the operating device on the car platform, the operating connections maintain at all times the same operative relation irrespective of the position of the trucks with relation to the car body. By these arrangements the scraper blades may be operated with as much quickness and certainty and with the same throw of the operating lever in rounding curves as upon a straight stretch of track.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

1. The combination with a car body and swiveled truck frame, of depressible track clearing means carried by the truck frame, a device adapted for manual operation carried by the car body, and connections interposed between said device and the track clearing means, said connections maintaining a uniform operating relation during all lateral changes in the relative positions of the truck and car body, substantially as described.

The combination with a car body and its swiveled truck, of depressible track clearing means carried by the truck frame, a device adapted for manual operation carried by the car body, and automatically adjusting operating connections interposed between said device and the track clearing means arranged to automatically adjust themselves to relative lateral movements of the car body and. swiveled truck frame, substantially as described.

The combination with a car body and its swiveled truck frame, of vertically movable clearer blades carried by the truck, a rock shaft also carried by the truck having connections for raising and lowering said blades, a, device carried by the car body adapted for manual operation, and connections interposed between said device and rock shaft and comprising a bar curved on an arc concentric with the pivoted axis of the truck and a member having a sliding engagement with said bar, one of said parts being connected with one or more arms on the rock shaft and the other with the operating device 011 the car body, substantially as described.

4. The combination with a car body an its swiveled truck frame, of vertical movable clearer blades carried by the truck, a rock shaft also carried by the truck and having connections with the clearer blades, arms carried by the rock shaft, a curved bar carried by said arms, a pull device having a sliding connection with said curved bar and means on the car platform for operating said pull device, substantially as described.

5. The combination with a car body and its swiveled truck frame, vertically movable clearer blades carried by the truck, a rock shaft also carried by the truck having one or more arms connected with the clearer blades,

other arms carried by said rock shaft, a curved bar carried by said other arms, a pull rod having a loop engaging said curved bar, a guide for said rod carried by the car body and a device on the platform for operating said pull rod, substantially as described.

6. In a track clearing device, the combination with the truck frame having a transverse bar, of a pair of levers ivotally secured to said transverse bar an arranged to swing in planes parallel with the plane of said bar and carrying clearer blades at their outer ends, and means connected to the inner ends of said levers for operating them from the car platform, substantially as described.

7. In combination with a car truck having a transverse bar at the front end thereof, a pair of levers pivotally secured to said transverse bar and carrying clearer blades at their outer ends, said levers being constructed of spring material, and operating means connected with the inner ends of said levers.

8. In combination with a car truck having a transverse bar at its front end, a pair of levers pivotally supported from said bar and having scraper blades at their outer ends, standards rising from said. bar, a rock shaft journaled in said standards and having a horizontally extending arm connected to the inner ends of said levers, a spring tending to rock said bar into a position to depress the inner ends of said levers and means whereby said rock shaft may be rocked from the car platform, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEO. A. PARMENTER.

l/Vitnesses:

FRED. O. LITTLE, GEORGE W. W. DAVISON, 

